Hello
Gentle Reader,
The
judges for the 2016 T.S. Eliot Prize described Jacob Polley’s poetry
collection: “Jackself,” as a: “Firework of a book.” The poetry collection uses
the nursey rhyme “Jack,” to narrate a collection of poems about a mythological and
loosely autobiographical English childhood. This is not the first time Jacob
Polley has found himself acquainted with the T.S. Eliot Prize. Polley was
shortlisted in two-thousand three with his debut collection of poems: “The
Brink,” and would return again to the shortlist in two-thousand and twelve with
his second collection of poems: “The Havocs.” Since his debut, Jacob Polley has
been a noted poetic force in contemporary English poetry. In two-thousand and four he was one of the
twenty poets who were named to be the best poets of the Next Generation of
British poetry. But poetry has not been Polley’s sole medium of writing. In two-thousand
and ten he has written a novel: Talk of the Town,” which won the Somerset Maugham
award.
Ruth
Padel who chaired this years judges, would go on to describe “Jackself,” as
follows:
“It’s
a sort of autobiography, set in a place called Lamanby, but it’s really like
Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast, where everything is strange. His mastery of phrase
and rhythm and the control of line, combined with the hurts of childhood and
his glee in inventive language, have taken his writing to a new level.”
The
T.S. Eliot Prize carries a £20, 000 purse, with the runners up to the award
each receiving £1500 dollars. For this the award is noted as being the most
coveted poetry award in the United Kingdom. Last year, for the first time the
award went to a debut collection called: “Loop of Jade,” by Sarah Howe.
Congratulations
to Jacob Polley! May he write more prose work hopefully in the future along
with his teaching career and his rising poetic success.
Thank-you
For Reading Gentle Reader
Take
Care
And
As Always
Stay
Well Read
M.
Mary
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